Months ago we talked about doing as a good a wetsuit test as we could. We got a ot of feedback from this forum and wetsuit suppliers. The test is on-going.
At the onset I didn’t imagine how much work it may be to do a decent job.
Basically, we’ve looked at in-water time trials with the suits, bouyancy (measured two ways, “negative” submerged weight and displacement) and subjective factors such as users impression of fit and flexibility. If any engineers out there have ideas for an empiracle test of fabric flexibility (that we can afford) let us know.
We’ve also raced in a number of different suits. Quite a number.
Here are some insights or sneek peeks into what we’ve learned so far, and we are far from done: Price has little to do with performance. Some of the moderate ($299 give or take) full suits tested consistently “fast” in the pool and got best flexibility reviews from Sarah and I. A pleasant surprise. The unique design of the Blue Seventy Helix seems to offer the best flexibilty of any suit and across the full range of sizes. At this phase of the test, if we had to pick one best “supersuit” of the high end suits, this one was it. It outgunned the other “supersuits” in every category except bouyancy. We’ve discovered bouyancy does not automatically equate to speed. Some of the most bouyant suits are the slowest. Something weird is happening with speed testing of sleeveless suits. We have gotten some incredibly fast results in the pool, *faster than some full suits *with some sleeveless suits. This is totally different than what we were seeing a few years ago in a more rudimentray test when full suits tested faster across the board. One of the most expensive suits we tested was among *the slowest *and got the worst flexibility rating from Sarah and I. It was among the most bouyant however by both displacement and negative (submerged) weight. One supersuit from a manufacturer was consistently *too warm *for either of us in all but the coldest water. The Quintana Roo Superfull also tested very flexible according to subjective reviews. One value priced wetsuit manufacturer tested incredibly well. Again, price has little to do with performance in some cases. Two piece suits (DeSoto First Wave) *do *work, but they don’t work across all sizes and for all swimmers. For some swimmers though, they work better than any other suit. Smaller sizes seemed to do less well than medium and larger sizes in the two piece.
Well, the heck of it is, now we might as well just scrap what we have in terms of results and chalk this up to learning how to do the testing for next spring. The full round of tests costs about $8000 and takes about 8 weeks to complete if that is the only web article we’re working on.
Now we’ve decided to start the teasting protocol over with all new '07 product based on what we’ve learned about testing suits. I figure March '07 prolly.
Any idea as to why the some of the sleeveless suits are performing well vs. full suits? I would think for some swimmers the freedom of movement might outweigh the other gains. I am finding that a full suit (at least the current one i have) isn’t providing any gains for me and i suck at swimming. So i find this interesting and have thought a sleeveless is what i might need. Thanks for the preview of results.
We do have some thoughts. Firstly, it may be the ability to have better feel of the water and as such, placeing your arm better. The other reason may be a flaw of the test: The time trials we’ve done have been 100’s in a 25 yard pool. We’re thinking 500’s done on succesive days may exert a more profound effect on the outcome while done with a heart rate monitor and a stroke counter (the Speedo unit).
The sleeveless suit may be slightly faster in some cases on some swimmers for 25 yards in the pool. But I am a long way from saying it is faster over a long open water swim. As a matter of fact, we have data that is ten years old from a test I did at Ironman Canada that shows a full suit is faster in open water.
Here is the lead in photo we shot for the wetsuit article (speaking of sleeveless suits):
It does affect the outcome. Having only two swimmers (my wife and I) means the test is not as complete and conclusive as it would be if there were more.
There is no doubt there are some serious drawbacks to our “test”. Lots of limitations. We were hoping it would help guide our wetsuit buying decisions and also provide some insights we could pass on while selling wetsuits. We also wanted to find out what suits were fastest for Sarah and I.
my own tests show that no matter what suit i wear, my swims are comparable. I either use the orca apex full, oneil full, oneil sleeveless or an oneil sleeveless with the legs cut to about 3/4 thigh.
between the orca full and oneil, full, the orca is alot more flexible in the shoulders and a bit more comfy on longer swims. both are very toasty so i usually only use when the water it below 65ish…
